I'll go ahead and start saying it's meeting the first item of the agenda is approval the minutes from September 1st, 2023.

Is there a motion?

Motion to move by Commissioner Hood.

Is there a second?

Second by Commissioner Hagney.

All those in favor say aye.

Can you apple a slight sign?

So that motion does carry for approval of the minutes.

The next item of the agenda, which is really the entire reason why we were here today, uh, is to honor Mr.

Mr.

Thornton, uh, who I hear is going to be stepping down.

Um into the sunset, right?

Do you want to give a more about it?

Yes.

So Alan's here.

Uh commissioners and members of public.

Uh Alan has uh been with the city since 1980.

And um we have some career highlights we thought we might share with you.

Um, we're also celebrating with our staff teams later today.

Uh so that those of those of the those of us that aren't here, like the other planners and the non-planners and others that are working out many years also uh participated in this, but um so yeah, Alan, if that'd be okay.

I know you're you're right there, but yeah, I'd love to hear from you as well.

First, we want to just brag about how awesome you are.

So we're gonna just take a minute to uh many years go through the go through the the highlights here.

So Alan was uh the BZA and the zoning committee staff and coordinator for the city's site plan review process.

So some of you know Tia Anderson currently coordinates site plan review for the city with the IS team.

Um he he did that.

I I actually when I read through this, there's things I didn't know about Alan's career.

That was 1980 through 1986.

He was the author of the 1983 Grand Avenue design guidelines that led to the use of updated double lantern street lights in Grand Avenue commercial areas, and then to use of updated St.

Paul Land Lantern Street Lights Citywide for street street reconstruction sewer separation projects.

And feel free to comment on any of this too.

Well, you can ask questions too.

Yeah, yeah.

Feel free to jump everybody.

Uh the um the 1984 Smith Avenue plan uh in conjunction with MINDOT's reconstruction of the hybrid.

Uh so you worked on that, that resulted in pedestrian amenities and decorative lighting um on and near the bridge.

So, like a sidewalk.

Yeah, I mean, I I think Minda originally was looking at kind of a more you know, tall street lights on the bridge, um not really good pedestrian connections, you know, and and bike, and so we worked with them to get sidewalks and railings that people could see through that were safe.

And um I worked with I worked with Mike Classen in public works in the early 80s.

I think on Grand Avenue, that's you know, we were I was talking with Grant Mike working on the Grand Avenue plan um about having decorative lights to highlight the commercial areas, and I don't know if people remember this, but when Grand Victoria was first, you know, there were buildings at Grand and Victoria that had originally been auto dealerships, and when they were converted to the commercial corner that they are now, the developer originally put some very simple globe lighting um to highlight the store plants.

And we in working on the Grand Avenue design guidelines, we thought I was talking with Mike Classen, who's the lighting engineer from the time, you know, about how to do that kind of more generally along Grand Avenue because it really sets it.

It was kind of a blank was the one that said, well, you know, when we were originally I've seen plans for drawings for a double lantern back when the original St.

Paul lanterns were installed in the early 20th century.

There was a design for a double lantern to be used in commercial areas, and and he worked with a lighting company, the lighting company to update and update the design to use modern optics and modern lighting.

And we started using those on Grand Avenue, and that led the interest, you know, was that then we started the sewer separation project, and we were going to be rebuilding streets all over the city, and people wanted lantern double lanterns all over the city, and it led to what we did, which is really a St.

Paul it changed.

It's an important aesthetic for St.

Paul.

It's really part of St.

Paul's identity.

At any rate, when we were working on the I worked with Mike on that one, and then we the Smith Avenue plan was done.

Um was requested by people along Smith Avenue on the west side because when the hybrid was torn down, they were concerned about a couple of things.

One, how do they get through this?

Because a lot of their customer base was north of the river.

Um, but also how do we make sure that the approach and the bridge itself is designed for our neighborhood to the neighborhood and uh Mike and I went to Mindot, and one thing we did is to say, you know, you really don't need the tall, 30-foot-high street lights on, you know, on the bridge.

You need those in places like on Grand Avenue, there are the tall lights and the decorative lights because there's a lot of pedestrian activity and you need a different quality of lighting to make it safe.

But on the bridge, there's no pedestrian crossings, there's no intersections.

And so Mike got them to agree to put the globes on the bridge, and then we also worked with them to get the a good railing and places for bikes and pets.

Yeah, not only that bridge, but it looks like you worked with the neighborhood and city council members to get Minda to change the Marshall Lake Bridge replacement.

Their first design was just this basic really basic bridge, and there were people in the neighborhood that um saw that and were and and I think the city council member and the district council and so we we had just done the high bridge, and I got involved with that one and got them to change the whole design.